


tears

by escapismandsharpobjects



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:20:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25498972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escapismandsharpobjects/pseuds/escapismandsharpobjects
Summary: written for whumpmas in july day 24: tears. set sometime during season 2, nick and hank hang out in hopes of distracting nick from everything else going on in his life, but it doesn't really work.
Relationships: Nick Burkhardt & Hank Griffin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	tears

**Author's Note:**

> hi!!! this is my first fic for this fandom and also im not done w the show yet so im super sorry if this is ooc! i hope you enjoy though!

It’s been a long couple weeks. Nick is doing his best not to be completely consumed by his thoughts and feelings regarding the whole situation with Juliette, but it’s hard, maybe the hardest thing he’s ever had to do. He’s just trying to keep his life moving forward as best he can, even though everything feels like it’s spinning out of control. 

So when Hank had suggested that they should hang out at his place and watch the game after work that Friday, Nick had agreed. It’s something  _ normal, _ casual and low-key, and it’s his best friend. He figures it’s about the best distraction besides his duties as a cop and a Grimm that he’s going to get. Maybe he’ll even be able to feel normal for a little bit. 

The game isn’t even a quarter of the way through before Nick is realizing that feeling normal had been an absolutely impossible goal for him this evening. He’s staring at the TV without absorbing what’s going on, mindlessly eating chips and doing his best to respond to Hank’s attempts at casual conversation. He feels numb, and mildly drunk, and he knows by the tight feeling in his chest and throat that he’s not going to be numb for much longer. Something is going to break. 

But for the time being, he is numb and everything seems like too much. It would be too difficult to stand and leave, too difficult even to just get up and hide in the bathroom and pull himself together. One of his hands is lightly trembling, and he quickly tucks it under his leg to hide it. Hank asks him if he thinks the Captain is also watching the game tonight, and he shrugs. 

He has no idea how much time passes, only that he finally brings his hand out from under his leg. It is no longer shaking, and it in fact kind of hurts, though that is of little consequence. Hank says something to him again, but he isn’t paying attention. He nods, and that seems to be the acceptable response, as Hank turns away from him and back to the TV, scoffing at something-a bad call, maybe, or a dumb commercial. Nick isn’t paying enough attention to know. 

—

Hank hadn’t been sure what to expect when he’d suggested this little hangout-obviously he hadn’t been expecting Nick to be all smiles and cheerful conversation, but he’d hoped, at least, for more than  _ this. _ Some casual conversation, about the game, about work,  _ anything _ to distract Nick from everything else going on in his life. It hadn’t been a lot, he thinks, to hope for. But he’s honestly not sure Nick would even be able to tell him what sport is being played, at the moment. He’s staring at the TV in a way that suggests no comprehension of what’s on it, and he’s giving one-word answers to all of Hank’s attempts at starting a conversation. He seems totally and completely out of it, and honestly, it’s a little concerning. Nick can be many things, but he is  _ rarely _ out of it. 

But Hank knows Nick very well, knows he’s not the type of person to be open about his feelings, not the type of person to take kindly to being asked after. So Hank is doing his best to pretend everything is normal. He drinks his beer and cheers when his favorite team scores a point, and doesn’t bother poking Nick and asking what he thinks of what is  _ surely _ a bogus call. 

He manages to pretend everything is normal until shortly after halftime, when he begins to feel it’s somewhat ridiculous to bother  _ pretending, _ when he’s pretty sure the house could catch on fire at this point. and Nick would  _ still  _ just be sitting there. 

So he turns down the volume on the TV, sets down his bottle, takes a deep breath, and turns to look at Nick for the first time all evening. He nudges Nick’s knee with his own, hoping to catch his attention, but Nick does the exact opposite of what he’d hoped, turning his face completely away from Hank’s line of vision. 

“Nick,” Hank starts. Nick still looks resolutely away.  _ “Hey. _ Nick.”

No answer. Hank sighs, briefly asks himself if this is really such a good idea, and reaches a hand out, gently grabbing Nick’s face and turning his head to face him. 

It takes him a second to process what he sees-Nick is crying, actually  _ crying, _ silent tears that continually stream down his face (and probably have been doing that for some time now, judging by the redness of his eyes). He abruptly stops crying and tries to turn away when he realizes he’s been caught, but Hank decides enough is enough. 

Keeping one hand on Nick’s face, he carefully runs a thumb under Nick’s eyes, brushing away the last of the tears which have, for the moment, stopped falling. He’s never been particularly good at gentleness, especially not with a person who usually appears anything but breakable, like Nick. But he tries. Speaks quietly, kindly, like he would to a scared witness. 

“Hey, Nick, it’s okay, man. It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

Nick shakes his head. Another tear rolls down his face. “It’s not okay, Hank,” he whispers. 

Hank can’t argue with that-he knows that everything is just about as far from okay as it can be right now. 

“I know.” He stops for a second, considers the best thing to say. “You wanna talk about it?” he suggests, cautiously, pretty sure he knows the answer. 

Nick shakes his head, as expected. “It’s...too much, right now. Maybe...maybe some other time.”

“Yeah,” Hank agrees, stunned to have gotten this much of an answer out of Nick. “Just...just know I’m always here, okay? When you do want to talk.”

Nick makes a soft noise of agreement, and suddenly he’s crying again, less quiet this time, and he turns and buries his face in Hank’s shoulder. Hank startles a little at the sudden contact, but relaxes quickly enough, wrapping an arm firmly around Nick’s shoulders, a gesture which he hopes is grounding and comforting. 

The rest of the game passes in silence, though neither of them is watching it anymore. At some point, Nick stops crying, and by the time the game finishes, he’s lightly snoring, his face still buried in Hank’s shoulder.

Hank, for his part, still has an arm wrapped around Nick, though he’d loosened his grip at some point in order to avoid Nick waking up later and feeling trapped. It’s a peaceful and  _ finally _ comfortable end to the night, though Hank never would have expected it, and although he’s pretty sure he’ll need to move at some point (unless he wants to start his day tomorrow unbearably stiff and sore), for now, he closes his eyes and lets everything be okay, just for a little while. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading!! can u tell i know nothing about sports lol. anyway i hope this was ok! please lmk what you think!


End file.
